The present invention relates generally to nuclear power plants, and more particularly it relates to methods of bringing a nuclear power plant to fractional electric load conditions.
A method is known of bringing a nuclear power plant to fractional electric load conditions, consisting of two fast reactors arranged in parallel in the cooling circuit and transferring heat to the turbine working substance, consisting in that both the consumption of the working substance and the amount of heat being transferred from the reactors to the working substance are reduced in accordance with a predetermined fractional load. Therewith, the reduction of the amount of heat being transferred to the working substance is attained by decreasing the power of one of the reactors and by reducing the rate of flow of the coolant therethrough so that the coolant parameters at the inlet and outlet of the reactors are maintained constant.
A disadvantage of the known method resides in that when the power plant is being brought to fractional electric load conditions, the power of one of the reactors is reduced, which results in a lower rate of breeding new fuel, as well as in a lower energy content of the nuclear fuel being used.